碑 (bēi): a stone tablet

Meanings

1 a stone tablet
2 stele
3 monument

Characters

碑

bēi

stone tablet; stele

Examples

这块碑上刻着古代的文字。

Zhèkuài bēi shàng kè zhe gǔdài de wénzì.

Ancient characters are carved on this stone tablet.

人民英雄纪念碑矗立在天安门广场。

Rénmín Yīngxióng Jìniànbēi chùlì zài Tiān'ānménguǎngchǎng.

The Monument to the People's Heroes stands in Tiananmen Square.

Tips

culture

Stone steles (碑) have been used in China for over 2,000 years to record important events, imperial edicts, and literary works. The Forest of Stone Steles (碑林) in Xi'an houses thousands of historical tablets.

Components

radical

石 shí

stone; rock

Left stone radical (Kangxi #112) — pictograph of a chunk of rock fallen from a cliff face (厂 cliff over 口 fragment). Anchors 碑 firmly in the masonry/mineral family: 砖 brick, 砍 chop, 硬 hard, 磨 grind. A 碑 is a stone tablet — the radical states the material immediately.

phonetic

卑 bēi

lowly; humble

Right 卑 supplies the sound — bēi unchanged. 卑 also lends a faint semantic flavour: it originally pictured a hand holding a ladle, marker of a low servant's role. A stele stands low and humble before history, recording deeds rather than boasting. Same phonetic in 啤 (beer), 脾 (spleen), 婢 (slave girl), 牌 (sign/plaque) — the last especially close to 碑 in meaning.